


by the pierside

by pandoracorn



Series: DR Birthdays 2018 [1]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa 3: The End of 希望ヶ峰学園 | The End of Kibougamine Gakuen | End of Hope's Peak High School, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Post DR3, birthday fic, character introspection?, idk man
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-02-25 23:19:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13223343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pandoracorn/pseuds/pandoracorn
Summary: our last summer, memories that remain,-Hinata stands on the edge of the pier, and thinks to himself.





	by the pierside

**Author's Note:**

> Happy new year!!
> 
> For this year, I'm going to try and write a fic for every birthday in the Danganronpa franchise, consisting of at least 1000 words. They're just short pieces, ranging from ships to singular characters, headcanons, angst and fluff. I hope you enjoy everything I have to offer this year!

The ocean breeze was light today, it was calming despite the dark air that surrounded it, and a horizon that no doubt had the stench of blood and terror on the mainland, making standing on the pier watching the sunset a little less weird than it would have been otherwise. Though really, when did he not stand here and just watch teh sky go by? If anything, it was the only thing to do besides try and reform back into a society that had no doubt collapsed, despite the efforts of the foundation that had kept them alive. Hinata watched for a few seconds more, thinking briefly about those blurry faces of the three people that had fought so hard to help him, before sitting down and letting his legs dangle off of the pier, resting his weight on his arms a little further behind him. One eye watched with a strange fascination and wonder, the other with a boring dismissive nature - such was his life now, he supposed.

 

It had taken a few months to adjust to his new situation, alongside the four others who had been hit just as hard by the reality that there was… no reality to return to, and they were the ones that destroyed it. The first night they woke up from the simulation was burned into his mind, branded like a cow ready to be sold off - a night full of shaking, crying and screaming, to subtle sobs and unspoken words of comfort, and finally, a promise to one another that they would keep fighting and wait by the side of their friends until they arose from the depths of lost code within the Neo World Programme. Hinata never wanted to forget that promise - he would live by it as long as he’d have to, as if it was some kind of forgiveness for his crimes against humanity (which he knew it wasn’t, but still, he could hope. That’s all he had, really.) and result in him earning back everything he had lost throughout the short time within virtual reality that still felt so real to him - and he knew it felt real to the others, too.

 

Hinata’s leg swung idly on the pier, as he brought the other one to his chest and rested his arms on it, maintaining a rather casual position as he continued to think about the despair he caused, and how they could all move forward from this. Yes… while he promised to carry on fighting, there was something else that he promised to himself too. It was one of the only things he recalled immediately upon waking up, a promise so strong not even the realms of the Programme could hold it back - a promise to never forget. He could almost hear her voice, calling his name on the wind.

“Hinata-kun,” soft, gentle and alluring as it always was, and though he knew it wasn’t true, he couldn’t help but look around to see her face again, tensing up unconsciously - maybe, just maybe-

For a moment, he swore he saw her figure before it was swept away in the ocean air, carrying her smile with it. Hinata relaxed again and let a sigh escape him, before standing up to his feet and turning his back on the sea, walking away as he felt the wind on his back, and almost heard a quiet yawn brush past his ears.

\--

The boat was loud at the pierside, honking a final goodbye as it set sail away from the island that the 16 of them now called home. Hinata raised an arm to wave at the ship's captain, knowing they were no longer paying attention but still somehow caring to be courteous, before looking behind him at the crowds of people - his classmates - gathered to begin their new life on Jabberwock island together. His eyes fell on an unfamiliar face, a flustered being patted down and tended to by Tsumiki and the Imposter, smiling and holding his sketchbook close to his chest, eyes still red from tears. ...That was the real Ryouta Mitarai, not the one he remembered on a faint memory of passing him by when Hope’s Peak was more than a ruin and the center of a global disaster… a disaster that he had been at the center off. He silently and motionlessly dismissed the guilt creeping back in as it always did, instead looking back at the ocean again, watching the waves lap so casually on top of one another, catching a glimpse of the ship that had left them behind still sailing away into the distance. For a moment, his eyes paused, catching sight of something sitting on a nearby cluster of rocks - a ghost like figure, with her knees to her chest, not looking in his direction, and though she held no physical tether to this world, the sea breeze affected her just the same, brushing her hair with gentle wafts of salty air as she sat, staring at the horizon with a melancholy smile. Hinata blinked and stared at the girl just long enough for him to catch her attention, and she turned to look at him, tired bubblegum pink eyes staring from a short distance away.

 

And just like that, in the blink of an eye, she was gone again, her smile gone with it, dancing on the breeze to another place where she was needed.

 

This was the price he’d paid for things he’d done, but if her existence had given him another chance to fix what he had done, Hinata was willing to let her go again. He turned his back to the sea once more, and headed for the gathering of his classmates, laughing awkwardly as Ibuki wrapped her arm around his neck and pulled him in, forcing him to interact and socialise. Their plan? To make the world a better place, to fix what they had done, one day at a time. And of course, he thought, the future now looked a little brighter, so much so that maybe - just maybe - he could hope that things could get better.


End file.
